Reviews

Rated 4.5 / 5 stars2015-03-08 00:13:02

Hmmm... I had did an experiment, having one village/town/keep/whatever. I'd come back later, around the year 1,026. Once I had come back, everything was destroyed. Back to the point of the review, great game I enjoyed it, but I wish there were a few things I'd like added; a zoom in and zoom out option... Also I'd like to zoom in to see what the so called "creatures" look like.

Rated 5 / 5 stars2014-10-01 22:59:10

Rated 5 / 5 stars2014-07-29 17:20:09

I have found this game by chance while browsing through the all-time top rated page here on our very old, very good Newgrounds community. What a delight Worldbox turned out to be.
At first, I played it casually, doing stuff I believe most people do in their first playthrough. After six or seven different worlds I set myself an experiment: I wanted to know what Worldbox could do on its own. The following is a report of my observations.
The test would consist of observing these creatures at regular intervals; which I assumed to be humans somewhere around the Stone Age, capable of stone tools, wooden musical instruments, fur and leather clothing, animal domestication, ceramics but not agriculture (to be discussed below) for 3000 years without any interaction from me except once. I should also mention that a year lasts for about 7 seconds. That makes up for an average of 8.5 in-game years every minute.Therefore, my experiment would last about 5.8 hours.
The continent was comprised of a large stretch of land where most of its territory was occupied by forests and tall vegetation. A small but high range of mountains near its center would be a point of future residence failures. A desert on the continent’s northeast region and two islands to its southwest were the source of the geological diveristy found in the world selected for my experiment.
Situated in the southern portion of the continent the first city grew in population and developed quickly. Feeding on the trees around them, cities multiplied rapidly during their first century of existence. There was a drawback, though. Their feeding habits would transform the trees into grass from which they couldn’t derive food. Such predatory expansion entailed an environmental change that would ultimately prove fatal. It is this phenomenon which pointed me towards asserting their ignorance of agriculture. It seemed as if they could build roads which connected their cities but were yet completely unable to domesticate plants, therefore, rendering permanently sedentary civilization unattainable.
Their apex occurred during the year 246. Their civilization was now comprised of 38 autocratic and seemingly independent cities home to a population of 156 individuals. They had expanded way beyond their original polis. Three of these cities were located as far as the high altitude points of the mountain range in the heart of the continent.
Their presence amidst the clouds were to be short-lived.
Deforestation became their major issue at the turn of the 4thcentury. The imbalanced nature of their relation with their surroundings forced many to starve for days driving them into long and erratic walks deep in yet uninhabitated areas to the northwest. Starvation led to plague and death which traversed generations. Individuals with weak body types became the majority of the dwindling population. With the shortage of food, reproduction also decreased. Cities vanished forcing those who survived to relinquish their homes. Nothing but barren land watched them seek comfort elsewhere. Where once there was a thriving community of people, there would be no more of them ever again.
Seruha Qaguuw, however, was involved in an unprecedented event. While away from his home in the mountains, one of the many to wonder around unfamiliar land scaveging for food, he was hit by a meteorite. He perished that very moment. Had he managed to return home, he would have found his birthplace claimed by death and desolation. Seruha was no longer part of the 75 individuals inhabiting the remaining 14 cities in the year 350.
As time went by, their numbers reduced and predation at an all time low, a fragile balance was reinstated. 91 individuals divided among 27 cities survived the year 666; an average which would remain constant for the next 4 centuries.
The turn of the 7thcentury marked my only interference with the development of this world. I “artificially” created a city in one of the few lush and untouched forests of the continent. This introduced a new hereditary line. I found notorious that after 600 years of continuous interaction between the numerous comminuties throughout the continent, they had succesfully managed to maintain a homogenous hereditary line which did not contain different branches. Apparently, they still perceived themselves as one very large group of blood-related individuals. I should also mention that the new city created in the year 601 produced an interesting result. Through breeding the offspring retained their father’s name, thus pointing at a patriarchal structure of their society.
And yet, even though they had survived what I would imagine they would call “The Great Famine” in the 4th century, they were unable to change their relation with nature. Predation remained constant and the areas where food was avaliable in abundance were steadily decreasing. The abandoned cities now long forgotten had deemed the land unproductive. They were once again ravaged by famine and diseases. There was not hope for survival. The islands to the southwest were never reached. They were able to build roads but not bridges by themselves. At last, a female known by Ganya Byzetef, daughter to Byluh Byzetef and Pyjapie Wyzus met her demise through starvation. She was aged 73, had a normal body type and had no children. She was the last of her kind.